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Tag: atiku

  • Group drums support for Atiku

    Group drums support for Atiku

    A group known as the Concerned Citizens for Atiku, CC4A, has declared support for a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, to run for president in 2019.

    Although Mr. Abubakar is yet to formally declare his intention, the group asked him to do so, saying it would mobilise Nigerians on his behalf.

    Members of the group led by Adebowale Jante stated these during a courtesy visit to the media office of Mr. Abubakar in Jabi, Abuja.

    According to a statement by Mr. Jante, the group was received by the head of Mr. Abubakar’s Media Office, Paul Ibe.

    Mr. Ibe while receiving the group noted that Nigeria is in dreadful need of a competent leader like Mr. Abubakar. He said the visit by CC4A “was one of hope, especially in the light of Nigeria’s current level of poor governance.”

    He commended the group for its make-up, saying it was a step in the right direction for young Nigerians to be actively involved in politics at all levels.

    “The CC4Atiku visit and its intentions are in tandem with the #NotTooYoungToRun campaign,” Mr. Ibe said while encouraging members not to relent in their efforts.

    “The beauty of this group is its constitution of young people who are not sitting back and expecting things to be handed to them.

    “Your visit has given us hope, hope that indeed our situation isn’t irredeemable, and for that we thank you”.

    “Your visit and intentions lend much credence to the #NotTooYoungToRun campaign. If you must run, you must be able to rally together and that is what you have done today, and I’m truly impressed with you,” Mr. Ibe added.

  • Atiku: he was a quintessential democrat, patriot

    Atiku: he was a quintessential democrat, patriot

    Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has described Dr. Alex Ekwueme as a quintessential democrat and patriot.

    Atiku, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), mourned the former Vice-President, describing his death as a great loss to the nation “at this critical phase of its political life.”

    In a statement by his Media Office in Abuja, Atiku hailed Ekwueme as a great man and democrat, saying Nigeria’s history of democracy and nation-building would be incomplete without his input.

    He said Ekwueme’s democratic credentials were of highest quality, adding that he was always called upon by political leaders to settle disputes and he was never found wanting.

    Atiku said the former Vice-President was a man of great learning, noting that he was a wise man and a statesman.

    He recalled that at the National Constitutional Conference from 1994 to 1995, Ekwueme was a star, who attracted other delegates because of his wisdom and moderate position on contentious political issues.  Atiku urged the deceased’s family and the government and people of Anambra State “to bear the passing on of this great and illustrious political leader with stoicism.”

    He prayed for the repose of his soul.

  • 2019: PDP renews call for Atiku’s return

    2019: PDP renews call for Atiku’s return

    The Adamawa State chapter of the Peoples’ Democratic Party ( PDP ) has renewed its call on former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to return to the party ahead of the 2019 general elections.

    Mr Shehu Tahir, the state chairman of the party, made the call while speaking the party’s stakeholders meeting on Wednesday in Yola.

    Tahir said: “ It is not a wise decision for Atiku to abandon the house he helped to build, so we want him back.’’

    He said that the problem that led to mass defection of former members of the party to other parties were over, hence the need for them to return.

    “We are calling on Atiku Abubakar, who is among the PDP founding fathers, not to abandon the house he had helped to build.

    “This is because the party needs him now to continue from where he stopped.’’

    He also called on other stakeholders to help prevail on the former vice-president to return to the party.

    “We urge our stakeholders to prevail on him and others who left to reconsider their decision and return to the party.”

    On the 2019 general elections, the chairman said that the party was ready to provide credible alternative to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).

    According to the chairman, the party’s doors are open to all Nigerians willing to join its fold, assuring that level playing ground would be provided to all members.

    Read Also: PDP factions battle over Ogun Secretariat

  • 2019: Will it be Atiku or Dangote?

    SIR: Political machines are getting oiled and lubricated. Events are unfolding by the day without delay and clarity as the game and its players are making heavy body movements.

    Welcome to 2019, the age of big business.  And the age of billionaire politicians; a defining moment and a decider-era for over 170 million black people on the surface of earth.

    Welcome, once again to a year without which we are nobody. The year, Waziri Adamawa, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and most likely, Alhaji Dangote, Africa’s richest business man will be slugging it out in the field of play.

    Yes, Dangote; you heard me right. Be not deceived, Dangote may be on his way to contesting for presidency, barring last minute moves by the powers that be as political parties are stopping at nothing in making a big claim come 2019.

    He is, of course, one of a kind and one of the most credible and unbeatable elements any political party could field as a presidential material for obvious reasons.

    One, for his financial war-chest which undoubtedly, is his strongest selling point; the richest tag on his name is a brand on its own and a trade mark, generally. It threatens his-would-be opposition and then, sends jitters in the spines of his traducers.

    Two, he is a business man, with no overt political interest or record of participation in same. That on its own has kept his name on a cleaner slate than his peers, as no dent is traceable to him whatsoever. Three, he is a man of great ideas with unequal entrepreneurial capacity, which has undoubtedly given him a wide range of high network of friends across the world. So, his candidacy is a must, if not an easy sale.

    And for Atiku Abubakar, Waziri Adamawa and former Vice President, politics is a lifestyle and presidential dream. Atiku, as a matter of fact, is a major, if not a larger than life’s contender in the business of 2019 as he has hidden nothing, and obviously, spared nothing in leaving everyone with the message he is in the race for reasons.

    With a strong political background and experiences acquired over his hey-days as a vice president and then, political lessons learnt over the years he spent in active party politics, Atiku’s ambition cannot be said to be a tea party.

    His restructuring campaigns which has made him more popular than every other politician from the northern part of the country is an added advantage, just as his financial strength is to say the least, superlative. Just as the zoning of the presidential position to the North by the two major political parties, APC and the PDP is said to favour both Atiku and Dangote.

    It is therefore, on this premise, Nigeria’s next elections embody a big poser – “2019: Atiku or Dangote?” A question only time will answer.

     

    • Gwiyi Solomon,

    Enugu.

  • Atiku to states: stop depending on federal handouts

    Atiku to states: stop depending on federal handouts

    Developments around the globe have shown that the time has come for states to stop depending on federal handouts, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said yesterday.

    Speaking at a dinner organised in his honour by the Adamawa community in Abuja, Atiku said crude oil will soon become less important as a source of energy across the world, a development, he said, would grossly affect resources available to government.

    He urged states to build a viable economy that would be the envy of all.

    The former vice president said leaders owe it a responsibility to the younger generation to help in developing the various states.

  • ‘Why we support Atiku’

    The National Chairman of the Atiku Support Youth Movement (ASYM) Hajiya Halima Oba, has observed that the former Vice President,Atiku Abubakar possessed leadership qualities to govern the country.

    The woman leader said the group had concluded plans to support his mission as a democrat, who has passion for development.

    Oba, who is also the North Central Zonal Director of Atiku Support Group (ASG) comprising seven states pointed out that Atiku as a nationalist supported the restructuring of Nigeria that will promote true federalism.

    She said recently represented the Director-General of ASG, Mark Wosi, at a meeting held in Abuja alongside the North Central Secretary of the group, Roten Henry Asogwa on how to mobiise support for Atiku ahead of the 2019 election.

    Oba advised those accusing the former Vice President of corruption  to come forward with an evidence of these allegations.

    support a leader that has good pedigrees and good records to bring succour to the country and its masses.

     

     

  • Let every part of Nigeria control its resources, says Atiku

    Let every part of Nigeria control its resources, says Atiku

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has advocated total fiscal federalism, which will ensure that all parts of the country control their resources.

    To him, the system Nigeria presently operate is incapable of leading to growth.

    He also said struggling to get a president from a region was not a guarantee of the region’s growth

    Atiku spoke at the weekend in Abuja in an address at a youth forum organised by a coalition of civil societies. It was under the banner of Play Forum.

    He said: “Left for me, I will ask every part of this country to take charge of its resources while the Federal Government should handle defence, foreign affairs and immigration among others in the Exclusive List.

    Describing the present arrangement as unitary in supposed federalism, Atiku suggested that since Nigerians have agreed to remain together, “it should not be complicated to start with all the recurrent items in the Constitution. The President can dialogue with the governors or the National Assembly for states to take charge of the roads, hospitals, schools and such other items in the Concurrent List while the Federal Government will continue with items on the Exclusive Lists. ”

    Atiku said for the effectiveness of the leaders in the First Republic, it would have been difficult for somebody from a poor background as him to go to school.

    He said: “I would not have gone to school, if I were born today. My parents were so poor they couldn’t afford to send me to school. I was born during the era education was free, food was free for me, I was sponsored from primary school to the university. There was even a job waiting for me before I graduated. Yet, there was no oil boom then. I am certainly not a product of oil boom Nigeria.

    “So, I don’t know what those who are against restructuring are afraid of. Those afraid must be lazy. We fought the civil war with the Igbo. Today, the Igbo have been completely rebuilt, but we still find mud houses in the North. Is it the fault of the Easterners that the North is like that?” he said.

    “I think that what is most important is the devolution of powers and resources with the various governments whether states or regions. How do the people hold those in power accountable for the resources handed over to them?

    “I want to agree essentially that there is every need for us to sit down and talk about our future. This is because the arrangements in the last 50 years or so have not served us very well.

    “We cannot determine the nitty-gritty of this restructuring until we are able to dialogue and agree on how we want to continue to live together as a country.”

    He said Murtala Muhamed military regime of 1976 created the strong centre, which he rubber-stamped with the Constituent Assembly of  1978.

    “It all started after the civil war, when General Murtala Muhammed set up the Constituent Assembly of 1978 and specifically instructed the Assembly to recommend a very strong Federal Government, which no component could challenge.

    “He was understandably coming from the perception of Biafra civil war. He felt that the war was caused by the region, which felt that it was too independent to poll out of the country.

    ‘Subsequently, they kept amending the constitution centralising more power at the centre”

    He said the military government failed to implement recommendations of  the Constitutional Conference of 1994/1995 of a single term of six years for the President to rotate among the six geo-political zones.

    “Of course, I was a member of the Constitutional Conference of 1994/1995 and what we actually drafted was not what they eventually came out with. We proposed a presidential system with single term of six years to be rotated among the six geo-political zones of the country.

    “By now, about four zones would have produced the president. We also said that after 36 years, we could review that provision if Nigerians believe it is the best season, otherwise we could discard it.

    “By the time we win election in 1999, we saw an entirely different constitution. I was told that they set us a review committee headed by Niki Tobi, which tampered with the draft and ended up with the constitution we now have today.

    “However, on a serious note, we have seen that the fact that a zone produced a president does not mean that he will get the zone developed.  Former President Goodluck Jonathan could not construct a road from Port Harcourt to Bayelsa.

    “Even the Southwest road we started during our administration Obasanjo could not continue. Former President Obasanjo  could not complete the road from Lagos to Otta, where his farm is.”

  • Atiku and the Buharists

    A recent publication by a group that goes by the name, Governance Support Group, further underscores the apparent contradictions in the pro-Buhari camp in responding to the recent claim by former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, that he has been side-lined by the Buhari administration in spite of his contribution towards its emergence. With no official response to Atiku’s claim, the unofficial responses from the pro-Buhari camp have been essentially contradictory, hasty, ill-digested and laden with emotions.

    What first look like an official response by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and which was made by the national vice chairman (North West) of the party was quickly denied by the party’s national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, who said he was expressing a personal opinion. That was quite instructive.

    The next unofficial response was from Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State who, according to media reports, was the “first governor to visit the presidential villa” after Atiku’s statement. El-Rufai’s statement was, of course, quite predictable. He regurgitated his narrative on the 2019 presidential election – that Atiku was after Buhari’s job. But lacking in tact as ever, El-Rufai couched his response in a language that effectively let out what both the party and the presidency have been hiding from Nigerians.

    El-Rufai disclosed that a group, which according to him, goes by the name “Buharist”, will do everything with its powers to ensure that the president runs for re-election in 2019. He said: “We have a group, we have Buharists amongst governors and ministers. Our group wants to ensure that President Buhari runs in 2019. If he chooses not to run, he will tell us which direction to go…. And we are making every political effort and creating every structure to achieve this”.

    Of course, Nigerians have read this to mean that, contrary to the posturing of both presidency and the APC, Buhari’s 2019 race has already begun in earnest.

    But the contradiction and opaqueness in the pro-Buhari camp became more apparent with a recent publication by the so-called Governance Support Group, which accused Atiku of beginning his own campaign for the 2019 presidential election. In a newspaper advertorial on September 12, the group claims that “we see all these claims by Alh. Atiku Abubakar… as unfortunate and befuddled dress rehearsal for 2019 general elections, adding, “this is a premature project…” Clearly, the group’s statement further brought to the fore the incoherence and insincerity among those who have taken it upon themselves to respond on behalf of the administration.

    To begin with, the idea of a Governance Support Group made up of 23 odd fellows should embarrass the Buhari administration which claims to have a broad-based support across the country. Apart from being the height of sycophancy, the existence of such a group suggests that the administration is desperately in need of make-believe support groups to make up for its seemingly eroding popularity.

    Even before the emergence of the Governance Support Group, the nation was already being inundated by the antics of different groups that daily march the streets of the nation’s capital city, Abuja, and other parts of the country lashing out on imaginary enemies of the administration while canvassing for support for it. Not long ago, there were media reports to the effect that two separate pro-administration groups clashed in Abuja over issues bothering on the sharing of funds apparently earmarked for hiring the crowds. Who hired the crowds is anybody’s guess.

    While Nigerians expected the administration to take steps to curtail this unprecedented spate of sycophancy, there came the latest group that has taken the matter to a most inglorious height. However, Nigerians still believe that it is not too late for the administration to take steps to halt this trend. It should not portray itself as being so desperate in search of support that any group can spring up at any time to begin to assault the sensibilities of Nigerians in the name of garnering support for it. This is what the so called Governance Support Group did in the advertorial referred to above.

    Before Atiku made his feelings public, it was no longer a hidden matter that some other notable leaders of the APC who, like him, made significant contributions to the emergence of the Buhari presidency, were no longer enamoured by the administration. The other ‘victims’ of the Buhari style of administration might have, for certain reasons, chosen not to speak up but that does more harm than good for the ruling party, the administration and the country as a whole. Therefore, it would amount to a big disservice to the entire nation for a fellow of Atiku’s calibre, who had had the privilege of presiding over the affairs of this country as a vice president, to continue to remain silent, even at the risk of expected attacks that would be coming from the direction of make-believe groups like the Governance Support Group.

    In the publication under reference, the group alluded to ministerial nominations and “the benefits of regular consultation with Mr. President”. But if Atiku’s only interest in contributing to the success of the APC in the 2015 presidential election was to simply nominate ministers and have “regular consultations” with the president, then he would be guilty of under-rating himself.  It was no big deal accepting nominations from a former vice president who had in the past received nominations from people himself. It is also not a big deal for a former vice president, who was for eight years the second-in-command in the country, to have access to a sitting president.

    Instructively, some stalwarts of the party in reacting to the matter have corroborated Atiku’s statement by giving account of their own personal experience in their respective states where they are similarly being treated by some of the APC governors.

    The group tried to fault Atiku on his statement that the administration has not recorded a comprehensive success in its fight against Boko Haram and corruption. But it is common knowledge that Atiku’s position is not far from that of the generality of Nigerians on the two issues. Nigerians have continually expressed dissatisfaction over the method being employed in the fight against corruption; which tends to prefer media noise to thorough and painstaking investigations and which has led to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) losing nearly all the high profile cases, to the chagrin of Nigerians.

    The group quoted the amount of N434.76bn as having been recovered by the agency, but it knows that, as far as Nigerians are concerned, the issue is not the amount recovered. The question Nigerians are asking is, from who were the amounts recovered? The group claims that the recovered funds are “intact” and are “being judiciously utilized in improving the lives of citizens…” This is a big contraction and which goes to show that the group is merely out to deceive Nigerians.  The money recovered cannot be “intact” and at the same time “being… utilized…” Even so, do Nigerians know in what areas the recovered funds are being specifically utilized?

    Similarly, the group’s claim that the deadly Boko Haram sect does no longer control any territory goes against the grain of evidence available to even the least discerning Nigerian. Not too long ago, the administration celebrated the “defeat” of Boko Haram, with television footages of the captured official flag of the sect at the Sambisa forest being handed over to the president by the military commanders. But up till now, our military is still fighting in the same Sambisa forest. So what happened? How come that the insurgents regrouped and came back to the same forest with even greater force? How come that suicide bombing in the North-east has continued unabated?

  • Buhari, Atiku and 2019 calculations

    Buhari, Atiku and 2019 calculations

    The endorsement of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for the presidency in 2019 by Minister of Women Affairs Aisha Alhassan appears to have set the pace for the next general elections. Assistant Editor GBADE OGUNWALE reports.

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has returned to the drawing board, ahead of the 2019 elections. Despite a few miscalculations that saw him jumping partisan ships in the past, the Adamawa State–born political gladiator has remained consistent in his quest for the highest political office in the land. With a heavy political war chest, Atiku is ready to throw his hat in the ring once again. With the election drawing closer, the Turaki Adamawa has left no one in doubt as to his resolve to run for President. Going by his poignant public statements in recent times, the ex-vice president is determined.

    In unambiguous terms, he has openly rued his political and financial investments in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari’s election in 2015. According to him, President Buhari and his APC have sidelined him in the scheme of things, after he had given his all to ensure the party’s victory. His public outburst came barely 24 hours after Buhari’s Women Affairs Minster Aisha Alhassan publicly declared her preference for Atiku over Buhari if the two were to find themselves in the 2019 presidential race. Alhassan said: “If am to choose between Atiku and Buhari if both contest the forthcoming 2019 presidential election, I will support Atiku.”

    The former vice president had followed up Mrs. Alhassan’s declaration, barely 24 hours after. Echoing sentiments obviously shared by many, Atiku scored the Buhari administration low. He was unsparing in his assessment of the government’s handling of the economy, security, food security and socio-political engineering, among others. Many analysts believe that the former number two man must have spoken the minds of a sizable chunk of the political class, even within the ruling party. Others with similar disposition, particularly within Buhari’s own party, have chosen to muffle their disenchantment, either for some political reasons or for self-preservation. But, while Atiku must have spoken in exercise of his right to free speech, the Buhari camp appears to have considered his action an arrow in the quiver.

    This has triggered a rash of reactions from the President’s camp. The President’s Media Adviser, Mr. Femi Adesina, returned a backhand slap in a treatise widely published in the media at the weekend. Entitled, Wanted: “A Restructuring Of Minds,” every line in the piece dripped with caustic innuendos. The presidential aide delivered his message in torrents of combative sibilants. In what many interpreted as his master’s voice, Adesina attempted to eviscerate some real and perceived enemies of his principal, who would see nothing good in what he held out as the President’s achievements 27 months into his four-year tenure.  Adesina threw garbage at unnamed critics of the President; young, old, far and near.

    Adesina’s parting words for those he described as Buhari’s “haters, wailers and purveyors of fake news” invoked images of a looming war of attrition between the President and his opponents in the months ahead.

    His words: “A final word for haters, wailers, purveyors of fake news, or whatever you choose to call them. Evil minds wax worse and worse. A hater would envy others unnecessarily. He would conjure evil thoughts that would poison his system. He would manifest all sorts of negative tendencies that turn him into a proper child of the Devil. And at the end of it all, his master welcomes him home with open arms. ‘Abandon hope all ye who enter here.’ (Dante’s Inferno). And there will be plenty weeping, and gnashing of teeth.”

    Many are of the view that, coming from the President’s public image maker, the stench in Adesina’s piece reeked of official intolerance for dissenting views. Echoing a familiar official refrain, Adesina dished out unkind words to proponents of restructuring. Calls for restructuring are being articulated and canvassed by a large and diverse chunk of the informed publics across the strata. Incidentally, Atiku happens to be one of the prominent Nigerians that have continued to sustain the calls.

    The President’s man did not conceal his disdain for the agitators. According to him, restructuring should not be on the country’s priority list. The demand for restructuring, he said, is ruinous for the country. He went ahead to describe it as hemlock, bound to poison the entire polity, and send it to a premature perdition. Adesina said: “For me, what is more urgent is the restructuring of the Nigerian mind. A mind that sees the country as one, that believes that we have a future and a hope, that believes that we are one people under God.

    “But, what we see now is ruinous for any country. It is hemlock, bound to poison the entire polity, and send it to a premature perdition.”

    However, political pundits are of the strong view that “restructuring of the mind,” which Adesina vigorously canvassed, ought to start from within. Their argument is premised on a well informed submission that only a restructured mind can appreciate the malignant flaws in the present dysfunctional federal arrangement. According to them, giving perfidious interpretations to the call for restructuring the way Adesina did, appeared to have sent the signal that the Buhari administration may have foreclosed restructuring.

    The prevalent mood in the polity strongly indicates that the push for restructuring may become a major issue in the 2019 general elections.. Other notable figures in the Buhari camp have picked up the gauntlet, giving the indication that the President may seek re-election in 2019.

    Presidential Adviser on Social Media Lauretta Onochie sent the message on Twitter on Saturday in unmistakable terms: “We’re working on Buhari’s return to power in 2019″. The Northern governors of the APC stock have also joined the fray. Speaking through Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje last weekend, the governors declared their support for Buhari’s 2019 re-election. In an address delivered by Ganduje’s Commissioner for Information and Culture, Muhammed Garba, they said the support for Buhari was total and unconditional should the President decide to seek a second term.

    Governor Ibikunke Amosun of Ogun State has also lent his voice to Buhari’s yet unannounced re-election bid. Speaking at the weekend, Amosun, however, stressed that the only thing that could stop the President from contesting is his failing health.

    The governor said: “The only thing that can prevent President Buhari from contesting is if his health cannot take it.” Painting a messianic picture of the Buahri administration, the Amosun added that, “If not for this present administration, only God knows where Nigeria would have been. When the government came on board, it was like jumping into the pool at the deep end.”

    Kaduna State Governor Nasir El- Rufai has also identified the President’s health challenges as a critical factor in the 2019 calculations. Speaking with reporters at the Presidential Villa last week, El- Rufai expressed the wish for good health for the President to enable him seek re-election.

    Also in the fray is the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), which has supported the President’s re-election bid. It’s Secretary General, Anthony Sani, stated last weekend: “If President Muhammadu Buhari is able to deliver on his campaign promises substantially, and be as fit as a fiddle to undertake presidential responsibilities and tasks by the end of his tenure, there will be no reason not to support him.”

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who has remained a factor in the choice of presidential candidates over the years, has adopted a wait-and-see approach. In a recent BBC Hausa Service interview, Obasanjo said: “If Buhari says he will re-contest, I will look at his overall performance before I take a decision. I voted for him two years ago because I could vote for anyone besides Goodluck Jonathan.”

    In the view of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE), the President must address restructuring before the 2019 election to get the required acceptance.

    The Secretary General of the YCE, Dr. Kunle Olajide, said: “As far as we are concerned, Buhari has absolute right to start campaign ahead of 2019 just like any other Nigerian. I don’t think that he has personally begun the campaign. We suspect that his fanatical supporters are the ones pushing him behind the campaign. He is still spending one term so he has the constitutional right to contest for one more term in office. However, Nigerians will decide if they still want him in the seat.

    “His fate is in the hands of the electorate. YCE said that Nigeria cannot go into 2019 election without restructuring the country. We want a restructuring of the architectural outlook of government before the 2019 election”.

    The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, said it would decide on the candidate to support for the 2019 presidency at the appropriate time.

    The spokesman for the group, Mr. Yinka Odumakin said Afenifere would not speak specifically on the President’s ambition for now. He was further quoted to have said that the group would weigh other candidates in the race before taking a decision.

    Several militant groups in the Niger Delta have also voiced their opposition to Buhari’s re-election bid, as it is being canvased by some of his loyalists. As expected, the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has registered its displeasure with the Buhari administration, saying there will be no second chance for the retired Army General.

    According to the party’s spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, Buhari and his APC would be defeated in the next election. He said the declaration of support for Atiku by Buhari’s Women Affairs Minister was an indication that the government is incompetent. But the President and his party have remained silent on Buhari’s aspiration, leaving his loyalists and the electorate to guess his next move. Not a few of the President’s loyalists are believed to be waiting patiently in the wings for the opportunity to join the race should Buhari decline to run. On the other hand, having stirred the hornets nest, there seems to be no going back for Atiku Abubakar.

    The open declaration of support by Buhari’s Minister can hardly be dismissed as a fluke. Atiku is in the race for real, even though it is not clear on which political platform he is going to run. For now, he is one leg in the APC; his other leg is sticking out of the window.

    From all indications, the Jedda -born politician cannot realise his presidential ambition in the APC as it is presently constituted. The fact that Atiku, who dumped the PDP for the APC in February 2014, still has a support base firmly rooted in the erstwhile ruling party is not in doubt. Spread across the six geo-political zones, his numerous political groups are ready for activation at the drop of a hat. Some of his loyalists that followed him from the PDP to the APC and who are occupying strategic elective positions may also tag along when it is time for him to dump the ruling party. But while there are no visible signs of serious consultations yet in the Buhari camp, the Atiku camp cannot be said to have gone to sleep. In the latter’s camp, groundwork for realignments across party lines are already in the works, with point men and trusted allies of the ex Vice President operating in the background.

    The developments in Buhari’s APC hardly give members any reason to cheer. It is apparent that the party leadership is isolated. Party sources have observed that it was a similar crisis of confidence that led to mass exodus from the PDP in the run up to the 2015 elections. A few of them have predicted that the same scenario may play out in a reverse order, with a sizable number of prominent APC chieftains retracing their steps back to the PDP before the 2019 elections. And if the declining living condition of a greater majority of Nigerians is a yardstick to judge the Buhari administration, it is doubtful if the President can still command the cult-like following he enjoyed during the 2015 campaigns. Most of his party’s electoral promises have been left unfulfilled, even as many of the various political groups and individuals that worked for the President’s electoral victory have continued to complain of being left in the lurch. As it were, President Buhari is being accused of surrounding himself with cronies and close relatives that he appointed into strategic positions. They piqued that many of these cronies and close relatives wielding enormous political power around the President, contributed nothing to his victory at the polls… “Unfortunately for the President, virtually all these cronies and relatives he has surrounded himself with, have nothing to offer in terms of electoral value. Some of them cannot even win 10 votes for him in their wards back home”, one of the party’s chieftains from the Northwest told our correspondent at the weekend. But, event watchers are quick to posit that judging by his fragile health, occasioned mainly by nagging geriatric strains, Buhari may not be able to stand the rigours of re-election in 2019. On the other hand, should Atiku also fail to get the ticket of his targeted political party, it may leave the battle field open for a proxy war between the President and the former Vice President. Given that scenario, Atiku may back the candidate of another party for a proxy political war with a candidate of the APC that Buhari may back. A clash of  two political titans may be inevitable in the unfolding permutations leading to the 2019 general elections.

  • PMB, Atiku and illusion of party

    PMB, Atiku and illusion of party

    Part of the cultural carnage bequeathed by prolonged military rule is rendering the contemporary soldier to be too much of a civilian while the political actor now appears militarized in thinking and behavior. Thus, the language of politics has become corroded by war terms and phrases.

    Those versed in military warfare are therefore most unlikely to have any difficulty in decoding as pincer movement the double whammy against the presidency last week from ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his political goddaughter. The motive is to disorient your quarry by launching attack from two flanks simultaneously.

    What then makes it particularly striking is that this adaption of military stratagem for a purely civil outcome was masterminded by a mere retired customs-man with an otherwise war-hardened infantry general at the receiving end.

    Minister Aisha Alhassan opened the offensive by saying that President Muhammadu Buhari would not have her support for second term having, according to her, sworn in 2015 to do just a tenure. The sucker punch was hardly fully absorbed when Atiku added what could only be classified a thunderous blow by declaring emphatically that PMB had also swindled him.

    Addressing guests at a book launch in Abuja that included no less a person than Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the Waziri Adamawa lamented that Buhari dumped him soon after climbing into power on the back of folks like him.

    Specifically, Atiku listed what he had invested as cash and influence.

    Ever since, things have not been the same in Abuja with the Buhari people appearing to running helter skelter, tentatively resorting to abuse as defense strategy. Not surprising, the spineless party leadership under Chief Oyegun has gone into hiding in this hour of moral crisis.

    At the Buhari camp, some accused Mama Taraba of bad faith and greed by coveting the perks of the ministerial office even when her loyalty lies elsewhere. Well, they seemed to have forgotten to remind us of Alhassan’s old baggage at this treacherous moment. According to media reports in 2014, some of the ladies who had served under her on the refreshment committee for APC’s inaugural convention in Abuja claimed they were abandoned once Mama Taraba was handed the N32m vote.

    As for Atiku, they mocked him as perennial candidate still sulking over his loss at the presidential primaries of December 2014. The boldest among them, one Mohammed Lawal, not surprising one of those recently appointed into the “juicy” NNPC board, even came with a rather apocryphal theory that the former Vice President was a fifth columnist who took off abroad after the primaries, pointedly challenging him to name the amount he contributed to the APC presidential campaigns of 2015.

    Other self-acclaimed “Buharists” like Governors El-Rufai of Kaduna, Ganduje of Kano and Amosu of Ogun and Bello of Kogi have taken it upon themselves to declare interest in 2019 on Buhari’s behalf.

    Put together, the tribe of Buharists are free to continue to live in denial. Though they may be unwilling to admit it, Atiku already scored the preliminary strategic point: framing the 2019 debate within APC and baiting Buhari to declare his stand.

    But beyond the brickbats between the Buhari people and Atiku camp are the weightier issues. Hard-hitting as they may sound, let it be said that varied responses by Buhari’s agents so far hardly address perhaps the core question inadvertently raised by the Atiku/Alhassan challenge: how much of a party has been made of the disparate forces that coalesced into APC in 2014?

    The truth is APC has failed abysmally to live up to the historic promise of 2015. In the past 28 months, the nation has had to watch with incredulity, if not shock, as what was thought to be the broadest opposition coalition in Nigeria’s history rapidly withered into a ghost assembly where weary denizens communicate via the dark augury of “body language”. Weakened by shame, they have had to suffer in silence.

    However, when the Buharists rush to make a stake on 2019, they naively assume that the spatial circumstances presented by Jonathan’s fumbling and wobbling and the golden national coalition of contrarians that made the Buhari victory possible in 2015 remain intact. Only those luxuriating in fool’s paradise reason like that. Were Buhari’s charm enough, his presidency would have materialized much earlier.

    If nothing at all, issues will certainly be made of PMB’s health should his present low-energy tactics continue to serve him in the months ahead and he chooses to present himself for a second term. The other possibility – most likely – is for him to hang in there, maximize incumbency powers to a point he could dragoon the party to adopt his stooge as flag-bearer in 2019..

    Either way, it certainly will not be a walk-over as his zealous supporters appear to think. The bad – well, maybe good – news is that 2015 has shattered the myth of the invincibility of presidential incumbency in electoral contest in Nigeria. If APC was a beneficiary two years ago, who says it cannot yet become a casualty in two years’ time?

    For now, it will be an abuse of language to term what remains of APC a political party. At best, it is a caricature of one. While common antipathy against Goodluck Jonathan helped rally the disparate tendencies against PDP in 2015, as events have since proved, a political union only endures when not only the values are shared, but the victory spoils as well.

    Whereas only a tiny cell within Buhari’s CPC has fattened on the spoils of electoral victory of 2015, others toiled as hard, if not more, to deliver APC’s victory of 2015. In private, most chieftains of ACN, ANPP, a faction of APGA and the “nPDP” say worst things than Atiku has said of Buhari.

    By opting to enshrine provincialism instead of cosmopolitanism as governance model ever since, the ruling faction in APC has only ended up inflicting a paralysis of sorts not just on itself, but also the nation at large. The arrogance of power will not pre-dispose the new potentate to seek, much less accept better ideas. Scholar and Catholic cleric, Bishop Mathew Kukah, classified this rare condition as the paralysis arising from the inability of the central nervous system to take advantage of the full complement of otherwise functional veins in the anatomy. Taken to the realm of physics, it will be called the curse of perpetual low battery.

    It manifests in the inability to articulate a coherent economic vision and advancing infantile excuses for the cocktail of epic failings and unforced errors. It manifests in impulsively mumbling nonsense when dignified silence would have sufficed.

    At the party level, it manifests in the inability of the ruling party to either hold even routine national meetings, host national convention after three long years or constitute something as elementary as the Board of Trustees.

    Indeed, the Buhari we saw before the historic March 28, 2015 presidential elections was a pan-Nigerian patriarch who charmed voters in the South-West with Yoruba’s gobir cap, wowed Niger Delta in sequined jumper and sashayed Igboland in the iconic red cap. In another snapshot, he affected corporate gravitas in dapper dinner suit and bow tie.

    But we never saw any of those costumes again after he won the election. The old Daura tortoise hastily retreated into his accustomed Zanna crown.

    Worse, ever since, no official effort is even made to reassure those whose hearts are burdened by the bitter feelings of being swindled. We see that in the continued lopsidedness in federal appointments in favour of either his beloved cell within APC or a section of the country.

    As Bini folks say, people are earnestly watching to see how the Buharists hope to roast the rabbit in the fire in the times ahead without getting its tail burnt as well.

     

     

     

    Don Williams: The contradiction of talent

    The global community was perhaps too fixated all of last week on Hurricane Irma pounding the Caribbean down to Florida to have taken notice of the exit last Friday of country music icon, Don William. Coming when his native Texas was still lying disfigured after no less catastrophic Hurricane Harvey, it is obviously doubly tragic indeed, even though the “Gentle Giant” lived up to 78.

    In a way, poetry could be read to the circumstances of his passing after “a brief illness”. Maybe, the unsuspecting “Good Ole Boy….” was forced to be “Standing Knee Deep In A River”, only for approaching Hurricane Irma to make him “Listen To The Radio”. Alas, he cried, “Lord Have Mercy on A Country Boy”. Realizing he could not wait “Till The River Run Dry”, he became aware that “Some Broken Hearts Never Mend”…

    With a deep baritone voice that enchanted and lulled, DW surely lured the rest of the world into the rich groove of country music native to white America, offering the curious a peep into the cowboy tradition.

    The millennials in Nigeria are unlikely to recognize or remember DW in his full artistic regalia. But not anyone with an ear for the world music cultures of the 70s and 80s. I grew up hypnotized not just by the sheer honey of his rendition but also the themes of contentment, romance, forbearance and simplicity that permeated his huge oeuvre consisting of 35 studio albums in a career spanning almost a half century.

    But like most creative geniuses, the Gentle Giant was not without a dark part, a grave contradiction. How ironic that the man whose songs preached love had his own heart soiled by racism. Without apology, he would declare that his music was not for negroes and would refuse to play in the ball-room if any black was present.

    Certainly, “Goodbye Isn’t Really Good At All”.